Before you come to the Land of Israel, we have gathered a few interesting facts about the country:

1. Israel was founded in 1948. There is evidence of Jewish settlements in the country dating back from the 13th century BCE.

2. The Sea of Galilee is the lowest freshwater source in the world

3. The Dead Sea, which is about 400 meters below sea level, is the world’s lowest place – with or without water.

4. And it is 8.6 times saltier than the ocean

5. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East

6. With Great Britain and New Zealand, Israel is the world’s third democracy with no constitution

7. In Tel Aviv alone there are more than 100 sushi restaurants, which has made Tel Aviv third place in the world in number of sushi restaurants per capita after Tokyo and New York

8. 44% of Israel’s lawyers are women

9. Israel is one of nine countries in the world that have launched their own satellites into space

10. Israel is one of nine countries in the world that have launched their own satellites into space

11. The average life expectancy for men is the fourth highest in the world after Iceland, Switzerland and Australia

12. Israel is where cherry tomatoes and flash memory, the disk on keyring, were invented

13. The town Be’erSheva has the highest number of chess grandmasters per capita anywhere in the world

30 quick facts on Israel

14. Israel has the highest number of museums in the world relative to its population

15. Israel has the highest number of university graduates in the world relative to its population

16. Israel has two official languages: Arabic and Hebrew

17. Motorola’s mobile phone was developed in Israel

18. Part of the Windows NT operating system wasdeveloped in Israel

19. Tel Aviv has the largest number in the world, (more than 4,000), of International style buildings, which led to its declaration as a UNSECO world heritage site

20. With more than 4,000 startup companies registered in Israel, Israel is the place with the highest concentration of technology companies per capita in the world

21. In 2012, Tel Aviv was chosen in the Startup Genume rating as the second most important city after Silicon Valley for technology and startups, and it continues to be rated in the top places

22. Cows in Israel produce more milk than any other cows in the world, and compete only with South Korea

23. Israel has 12 Nobel Prize laureates, five in chemistry, three in economics, three peace prizes and one in literature

24. Israel is home to the center of the Bahai religion, located in Haifa and in Akko

25. Worshippers put about a million notes into the Western Wall in Jerusalem, which are removed before Passover and on the eve of the Jewish New Year

26. 60 seconds separate Israel’s saddest day and its happiest one – the 60 days separating Remembrance Day from the Fallen of the Soldiers of Israel and Israel’s Wars who fell in the defense of the country and Independence Day.

27. Israel has won the Eurovision Contest three times: in 1978, 1979 and 1998, when Israel was represented by Dana International, the first transgender singer and artist to participate in and win the Eurovision.

28. The cemetery on Mount of Olives is the oldest active cemetery in the world

29. In Israel, people who observe the Sabbath may purchase vehicle insurance that does not include the Sabbath

30. The Israeli academia publishes more scientific studies per capita than anywhere else in the world